MUSIC SCENE: Matt Stubbs takes his fans on sonic adventures

Friday

Matt Stubbs established himself pretty quickly as a first rate blues guitarist in the early 2000s, helming a band which won the Battle of the Boston Blues Bands.

Matt Stubbs started his musical career interpreting the blues, but now he’s sharing the movies in his imagination, which is good news for music fans of all kinds.

Matt Stubbs established himself pretty quickly as a first rate blues guitarist in the early 2000s, helming a band which won the Battle of the Boston Blues Bands and made a solid splash in the national competition, then moving to Los Angeles for a while and leading the band of blues singer Janiva Magness. Finally in 2007, Stubbs became the lead guitarist for singer and harmonica titan Charlie Musselwhite, and has toured the world with him ever since.

But the New Hampshire native’s latest musical pursuit is much different from the blues, arising from his lifelong love of guitar instrumentals, and encompassing elements of rock, jazz, funk, worldbeat, psychedelia and reggae. Matt Stubbs and the Antiguas has been his labor of love for the past year and half, holding down a weekly Monday night residency, first at the Plough & Stars in Cambridge, and later – when it proved successful – at The Sinclair’s restaurant in Harvard Square. The Monday night sessions feature a video component, light show and sometimes even go-go dancers, and it all makes sense because the new music reminds you of the soundtrack to a cinematic thrill ride.

Tonight the new band will release its first, and eponymous, album with a show in the main room at The Sinclair. Soul singer Julie Rhodes opens the 18-plus show at 9 p.m., with The Antiguas going on at 9:50, followed by Bearly Dead at 11 p.m., jamming out for the rest of the evening. Tickets are $20, available at The Sinclair box office, at 52 Church St. in Cambridge. Call 617-451-7700 for more info.

Stubbs has released two previous albums under his own name, which were also instrumental, but closer to his blues roots. The Antiguas are a quartet, including Stubbs on guitar, Chris Rivelli on drums, Mark Hickox on bass and Justin Lopes on organ. Long time Boston jazz organist Ken Clark plays on the record, but his solo schedule became so busy he had to step away from the Antiguas, and frequent guest Lopes easily shifted into the full-time role.

“Yes, a lot of these songs be gin as a sort of movie in my head,” said Stubbs from his Boston home. “The reason I wanted a new title for the band was that when I started writing this music a year and a half ago, I realized it was a lot different from what I’d done before, which was basically Memphis-style soul blues. I al ways liked those movies where the music becomes a big part of the plot. At the same time, I listen to a lot of Afrobeat, Afro-Cuban music, and I really like the modern production styles of some of the pop artists, so that’s all in there too. The Monday shows really started in 2016, at the Plough & Stars, mainly for this new music I was writing – to have an outlet to work them up as songs.”

Stubbs has been working on recording the new music for al most that whole time, with one early batch of a half dozen songs scrapped when he didn’t like the mixing. Finally getting the sound he wanted, with a more prominent low end, Stubbs’ own recording experience helped him arrive at the sonic tapestry he sought. While the new album will be available at this show, the national release has been delayed until Jan. 26.

“I was really picky with this one,” said Stubbs. “My other records had been done much quicker, mostly recorded live as a band, and then mixed with an engineer. I like them, but I knew I hadn’t really put much time into them. But working with other artists has been a learning experience. When I was younger – my first solo record was in 2008 – I had songs I wrote, and the engineer would lead me through the recording, but it was hard to describe what I wanted. Since then, I’ve been in studios with other bands and soaked up as much as I could. I’ve really be come a fan of some particular sounds, like the modern Tom Waits, or Jim James’ solo work, or Beck. They all get a more modern sound, but use traditional, vintage instruments.”

“I wanted a very hi-fidelity sound, but with a lot of lows, a lot of bass, but also a bit of fuzzy tone,” Stubbs explained. “I came from being in blues my whole youth, and that was all I listened to. But eight or nine years ago, I began listening to a lot of new music, where they spend more time on production, and sonic quality that offers a full spectrum. The recent Tom Waits albums, for instance, sound like 3-D music, and that’s what I wanted to achieve.”

The new CD is certainly a feast of delectable sonic adventures, from the opening “Fist ful,” which might be viewed as a nod to film composer Ennio Morricone, yet takes those Western movie themes into spacier territory, to the mysterious mood piece “El Segundo,” where the organ provides a haunting framework for the meandering guitar melody. “Dub Stubbs” offers a bit of reggae flavor, but it’s a science fiction sort of reggae. “John Doe” might remind you of a James Bond film’s theme, while “Death Grip” suggests a latter-day Duane Eddy visiting a very strange place. The CD’s last cut is titled “Tarantino,” an homage to the action movie auteur who brought surf-rock god Dick Dale back into promi nence with his soundtracks, and Stubbs’ original tune here is a bright, upbeat frolic with hints of surf-rock, and yet also a darker undertone that gives you pause.

“Mark Hickox and Chris Rivelli have been playing with me for years,” said Stubbs of his fellow Antiguas. “I wanted to do something with no horns, and then we added organ, and it morphed a bit more. The funny thing is that Ken Clark plays a lot of Hammond B-3 organ on the record, but we’re using almost all Farfisa organ now.”

“I love vintage music in general, and the Farfisa is a classic sound – the “96 Tears” sound is the easiest description,” Stubbs explained. “I have a love affair with compact organs, Vox, Farfisa and so on, and I’ve been collecting them. I have seven or eight restored Farfisas now, with another couple I just use for parts. It takes up a lot of space, but their sound fits in tighter with what I write.”

Stubbs said that the music is written and arranged before hand, although certain solos are improvised.

“I wrote all of it, in general, but something like Ken’s solos are done on the spot in the studio,” said Stubbs. “I write the melodies and then arrange them. I’m not a pianist or organist, and things come out differently on a guitar, so I’m ending up with the most basic sounds, which the band then interprets. On ‘Bastille Day,’ for example, I wrote the main melody, and then my engineer, Dave Brophy, pictured it as a 1970’s movie car chase. ‘Death Grip’ was written very quickly, maybe 10 minutes one night. Sometimes they just come out like that, but I was thinking of the Beastie Boys instrumentals, and wanted to have some synthesizer sounds in there. On ‘Dub Stubbs’ I definitely want ed the sound of a ray-gun in there. But my inspiration was also King Tubby, a big figure in the dub world as an engineer, remixer and producer, so I had a very specific sound in mind – and I wrote that one while on tour with Charlie in Rio.”

The Antiguas’ shows’ video element has become a prime attraction, with Stubbs’ girlfriend Tracy Hanson curating and editing the videos for the projection screen, so that they all provide an enhanced atmosphere for the music. It is quite a departure from the classic blues the guitar ace plays with Musselwhite for much of his time.

“I’ve been around the world 10 times with Charlie, and we are traveling much of the year,” Stubbs noted. “But it is inspiring to see Charlie on the road, making music his whole life and career. This new music of mine is not blues, but it is soulful, perhaps like Booker T and the MGs, but on acid. And now that I’ve found the sound I want, the template I wanted, we are already at work on a second album. When I’m not on tour with Charlie, the Antiguas music gets 100 percent of my attention.”